


Liking Hamburg

by ananngel



Series: Pretty Boy [2]
Category: The Beatles, The Beatles (Band)
Genre: 1960s, Hamburg Era, Jealous Paul, Jealousy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 11:49:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19790284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ananngel/pseuds/ananngel
Summary: What John liked most about Hamburg, was the fact that they were in the Reeperbahn, a place known for its depravity. It wasn’t rare for the girls who saw the shows to try and wait for him, seduce him a bit for a snog, if he was lucky enough not to fall asleep on them, even a shag. It wasn’t even rare for some lads to attempt it as well, they were always rejected by John, no matter how nice looking they were. Sometimes, John didn’t even need reject them, Paul, as vigilant as ever, made sure to let the lads know John wasn’t interested, thank you very much.





	Liking Hamburg

John liked Hamburg, even if they had to play for way too long overnight while being somewhere between drunk and high on exhaustion (and possibly the Preludin they kept using taking to stay up). They had to sleep in a small and cramped room, sharing the space between the five of them, and while they were all friends, sleeping so close to Best wasn’t John’s idea of fun. Also, they didn’t even have a proper bathroom, not even a real shower, they all had to make do with the theatre’s restroom, which wasn’t really a problem, but also not comfortable at all. 

So yes, perhaps Hamburg wasn’t all that fancy, but he was loving it, he got to play his music every night, some of the people who actually listened even started complimenting them, and the German birds came to him as soon as they got the chance after playing. 

On top of that, he got to have Paul all to himself, without his dad trying to interfere making him think he was a bad influence, which he probably was, but Paullie already knew that and stayed nonetheless

What John liked most about Hamburg, was the fact that they were in the Reeperbahn, a place known for its depravity. It wasn’t rare for the girls who saw the shows to try and wait for him, seduce him a bit for a snog, if he was lucky enough not to fall asleep on them, even a shag. It wasn’t even rare for some lads to attempt it as well, they were always rejected by John, no matter how nice looking they were. Sometimes, John didn’t even need reject them, Paul, as vigilant as ever, made sure to let the lads know John wasn’t interested, thank you very much. 

He felt something stir inside him every time he noticed his Macca scare away the lads, funny enough, he only scared them when they were aimed at him, Paul didn’t mess with the queers who tried to chat Stu, Georgie, or even Pete. It almost seemed like he was being possessive of him, stating to the other guys he was unavailable because he was already taken.

The thought of Paul being jealous not only was funny to him, but it also made him feel funny, and perhaps blush a bit (not that he’d ever admit that of course, he was red from the beers or the dancing, should anyone ask). Was this how the girls felt whenever a guys claimed them as theirs? For all he knew, Paul would never make a move for real, they’d been close to something, but never quite there. There were lots of hand touches, they slept on the same bed, (just ‘cause there weren’t many), there were phrases they both knew to carry a double meaning, but neither dared discuss further, and sometimes it seemed like they had their own language that had no need for words, it just needed eye contact. Not to mention, that when they wrote songs together, John would feel like he was naked, like he was showing himself to Paul, and the other was making his work whole, and he felt the closest to him when they did that, it felt much more intimate than sex with any bird had ever felt, even his girlfriend Cynthia.

So perhaps it was wrong for John to enjoy it so much, but he couldn’t help it, seeing Paul react that way to him receiving male attention but not to when they were females, always seemed to work him up someway.

Paul, while he enjoyed Germany, what with the liberty he felt, being finally away enough from his dad to be able to enjoy himself without remorse, he also was bothered by some of the circumstances. 

  1. The bar they were playing for, while they payed them well enough considering they were a bunch of newcomer kids from Liverpool, they really didn’t have a proper place to sleep, meaning they were sometimes on top of each other if they wanted to sleep on a bed. 
  2. They were made to play such long nights that by the end of it, more often than not, he was too exhausted to take proper care of the birds waiting for him. 
  3. The number of queers that frequented the Reeperbahn was much larger than he could have possibly imagined before he arrived. 



That third little factor was a complex one, it bothered him, not for their mere presence, mind you, he had no problem with them at all, his issue lied on the fact that more than one tried making moves on his John, and he just wouldn’t have it. Everybody could see John and how attractive he was, but in this place, playing, singing, dancing, while being drunk and high on god knows what, John looked like a proper rocker, what with all the leather he wore, and apparently bent men fancied that. 

Sometimes he didn’t mind, he tried to keep in mind the fact that John wasn’t like that and that he would have no interest in manly German men, still he couldn’t deny feeling a bit chuffed at those situations. He had finally managed to get rid of the threatening Stu factor (not his doing really, Stu just started dating a German bird named Astrid thus stopped being a threat) only to have to put up with even more lads than previously.

But in this particular night, a very effeminate man slipped his watch and got to chat up John.

This man was tall and thin, with fair skin and a straight firm nose. His eyes a bright blue that looked at John in an enraptured way. His hair blond curly hair sticking to his forehead with sweat from dancing. This guys lips were pink and slightly open, not daring to talk and interrupt John’s chatter. 

He himself was presently talking to a very good looking German lady who seemed really into him, but couldn’t stop staring at the corner where John and the blond guy were still talking. Every other time, when a boy approached him, John made sure to dismiss them quickly, so what was different now, that his band mate was still talking to him? Perhaps Paul had just misunderstood and this guy wasn’t bent at all, he was just talking to John in a friendly manner. He was midway through convincing himself of that when he saw the blond smile and pull John closer, so that the auburn haired would be cornering him to the wall of the hall. 

Paul looked at him and even with his green filtered sight he could recognize what was different from the other guys, this fella was pretty, perhaps even prettier than him. 

He wanted nothing more than go to that corner, move John away from the blondie and take him away, somewhere where no lads or even birds would bother them, a place where Stu, Pete and Georgie couldn’t intrude in. But Paul wouldn’t dare do that. There was no such place, and he knew his friend well enough to know he’d be pissed if he dared even try it. So instead all Paul did was stare, brooding from a distance with a German girl in his arms. Eventually he became tired and decided to just head back to the closet where they stayed. 

He entered the room to find it alone, he knew already that Stu was staying with Astrid, still he had no idea where Pete or George were, probably shagging. 

His eyes were closed already, but he was still far from falling asleep, the tight sensation on his chest at the thought of John with the pretty boy haunted him. A few minutes later he heard the door and felt someone sit on his cot.

“What are ya doing here Macca? Saw you with the German bird, thought you’d be with her still”. John had followed the younger boy after he noticed the pained expression on his face as he left. 

“What are you doing here, saw you with the pretty blond, though you’d be with him still.” Paul sat and turned to look at John as he spoke. Their eyes met and the older could easily see the hurt in the others eyes. This was no longer the possessive kind of jealousy he enjoyed, from the look of his eyes, Paul was genuinely upset. 

“What’s gotten into you Macca, to make you so upset?” He knew it was a bastard thing to ask, but he had to hear his answer. 

Paul now looked angry at the question, John had the nerve to come to him and act all innocent, as if he was unaware of what upset him, perhaps it was the lack of sleep, perhaps the far too many beers he’d had, or maybe the Preludin, but he couldn’t help but answer. “Well, I can’t see how you get to snog away pretty German boys as you please. And to do so in public, to top it all. Could have bothered to hide at the very least, you give Cyn that courtesy.” He hadn’t meant to say that last bit, but as previously established, he was losing control of his words. 

“Is the princess jealous?” Seriously he knew he should stop teasing him, but John was also on the edge of everything and if he had little to none self control while sober, it’d be crazy to expect him to magically develop it while drunk. “You should know by know I like my girls blonde and with a bit of a Brigitte Bardot look on them.” 

“Then stop claiming to others I’m taken, if you’re not going to even try to label yourself as such”. With this, he turned away and lied in the bed again, pretending he was trying to sleep, waiting for John to leave. 

“Well, we are taken aren’t we? There’s Cyn and Dot back home.” He knew this response would make Paul get up again.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” The words were said in a very serious manner. Unexpectedly, Paul remained in his curled in bed position, avoiding looking at John. 

“Of course I know.” John stayed quiet or a while, just listening to his friend’s ragged breath. After a few seconds, which really felt like hours, of silence, he talked again. 

“As I was saying earlier, you should know by now I like my girls blonde, but that doesn’t really apply to boys.” He leaned in order to whisper into Paul’s ear. He wanted to tell him his taste in boys applied solely to one James Paul McCartney, but just couldn’t get himself to do it. “Come to Spain with me, an uncle gave me some money for my birthday and I was thinking we could go away, I just might show you there the kind of lad I like”. 

This finally made Paul turn around, wide eyed in surprise. He was still trying to process John’s words when the older spoke again. 

“Also, I thought you kinda enjoyed letting them German boys know I’m taken yourself, what a better way to shove them off but with your pretty face.” Paul was still staring at John. 

“And you won’t mind if I let them know? Not even if they’re pretty boys like the one today?” 

“Macca, that pretty boy is no match for your gorgeous face, so drop it already.” 

John didn’t know how’d Paul react to his confession, were it a girl she’d blush or become shy, but from his very male friend, he had no idea what to expect. What he was definitely not expecting was for Paul to take his face into his hands and kiss the life out of him right there.

Once the kiss was finished all he heard was. “When are we leaving?” 

So yes, John quite liked Hamburg, after all there was no way Paul would have dared do that back home.

**Author's Note:**

> Pardon my English, it's not really my first language, and also I attempted to use as many British vocabulary as I could, sorry if I failed.  
> Another thing, in this fic I make use of the words bent and queer to signify gay, or bisexual, in no way am I trying to use them as insults, but I know some people may take, particularly the word queer, as such. Just wanted to clarify that wasn't my intention at all. I was just trying to use words that they used in the 60s, to my knowledge.  
> Please feel free to point out any mistakes.  
> Hope you enjoy the read!


End file.
